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It was snowing. Whilst they had been inside speaking with the Elder clouds had bubbled up over the mountain and small, light flecks of snow had begun to fall. Isambard pulled his hood up and hoped that it would not get heavier, he did not want to spend another night on a cold mountain. They followed the path alongside the water tracks up away from the village, through the snow covered forest and along the side of the mountain, it was quite clever, he decided, very industrious of them. He could see himself starting to like these strange mountain people.
The stone tracks led to a stream deep in the forest as promised. As they drew closer Isambard frowned, there were dead fish in the water, and animals.
“Not just lead poisoning.” He said softly, that can’t be doing them any good either. “Look there’s a cave, where it must come from.”

“It’s entirely possible. I’m sure the mines run all through the mountains here. Right under our feet possibly.” He started up the side of the stream, it was shallow in parts and there was a path that ran alongside and into the mouth of the cave.
“I’m surprised they didn’t check this, maintain it. Though he supposed they might not be entirely intelligent. They appeared to live quite simple lives after all. He walked up the path, by the side of the cold stream and in to the mouth of the cave, it was dark inside of course so he waited a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

“Very true.” He replied, they would not think to look at it if they did not think that there was a problem. Perhaps they should appoint an inspector in the future to make sure it did not become contaminated again, if they could rectify the situation. He waited for Cyrus to produce some light for them and hoped that the djinn was not pushing himself too hard, they would need him more before their time was done in the mountain village. It was of course cold and damp within the cave, the light shone off the glistening surfaces. The stream, ran deep into the cave it seemed.
“Right, we’ll have to keep going until we get to either a problem or the source of things.” The water was still clear and there appeared to be no blockages, the cave ran deeper, into darkness, Isambard gestured for Cyrus to go first as he was the one with the light.

Isambard followed after him, taking care on the uneven surfaces as they ventured deeper into the cave. It would be no good to have started his journey to evolution and then die in some cave. He was well aware that he was really more mortal than god and he was not about to take any chances. As they ventured deeper inside the mountain the cave became smaller, he had to duck a little, though Cyrus was having a harder time as he had a large bulk as well as height against him. He stopped when the Djinn did and looked up at the glistening pile of rock that seemed to be blocking their path. It was too fresh and rugged to be the source of the spring.
“Yes.” He said, walking closer and reaching out to touch it. “It looks very familiar.” He imagined once he knew what it was but the name alluded him. “It’s an ore of some kind. Look, over there.” He said, pointing to the wall that appeared to have caved in.

Isambard watched Cyrus crumble the rock in his hand and nodded.
“It’s very likely. A useful metal, but dangerous of course.” He looked at the pile and then to the wall. It was a logical assumption. The collapse of the mine shaft had destroyed the wall and knocked the rocks into the water supply. he wondered how long it had been that way.
“Well should be simple to take care of. We simply clear the blockage and make sure it is all removed from the stream. Do you think that we can do it just the two of us?” They would have to make sure it was taken well away from the source of the water and secure the seam so that no more leaked in. It was a useful metal and perhaps they could take back what they found with them.

“There must be one back at the village.” He would imagine that there were all sorts of tools and things back there. They were in a mining village after all. He looked back towards the exit of the cave. “Let’s go back and have a look, see what we can find, we could bring a few of the men back to help us too. If we can load the carts up maybe we can take the goods that we find back with us.”

Isambard smirked at that.
“A very good question, a very good one. I’d bet it was something valuable and something I intend to find out.” he was never one to miss an opportunity, besides he might be able to offer some help, for a share of the profit of course. It wouldn’t be easy Dwarves were a greedy race. He led Cyrus out of the cave and started back down the tracks towards the village. Once there he quickly spotted an abandoned cart by what looked like it had been a shop. The men were still gathering the snow into buckets.
“There’s one there.” He said. “You three.” He said to the men. “We need you to help us. Hunt around for carts and shovels, picks too if you can find them. We’ve got stuff that needs shifting.

Isambard looked up to the sky and sighed. As much as he was eager to get things done he didn’t want to get stranded up there or put anyone in danger. He looked to the men, then to Cyrus and nodded.
“We’ll wait till morning then, let’s spend this time looking for everything we need. In the morning we will assess the snow.”